Mailbag: Stop attacking the labor unions

An odd incident that may or may not have any connection whatsoever to any labor union is being hyped to promote an insidious antiunion agenda.

Even if one were to accept, however ludicrous the accusation, that this was some kind of stunt (no crime has been alleged, as yet) being pulled off by the Costa Mesa Police Assn., does it justify vilifying all labor unions and the entire union movement?

Did the criminal plunder of billions of dollars at Enron justify demonizing and/or abolishing the entire free market system?

Did the Bernie Madoff scandal make a case for the inherent corruption in a system based solely on the exploitation of human greed?

We, as a nation, and as a society, are facing a very serious economic future. The free market (or a semblance thereof) under a democratic form of government (corrupted by the influence of dirty money) created this problem.

Democrats and Republicans are equally responsible for the current situation. It is convenient to blame the "politicians" for this mess, when "we the people" put them in charge.

It takes some gall to blame the entire debacle solely on labor unions. Our economy thrived in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, driven by the purchasing power of a strong middle class, when one-third of all labor was union labor.

Today, less than one-tenth of all labor is union labor, and the attendant is a vanishing middle class. Yet labor unions have become convenient whipping boys of those who would like to see them abolished for their own self-serving reasons.

Labor, without a bargaining clout through organizing, turns human beings into marketable commodities. It hearkens back to the ugly days of landlords and serfs.

Unfettered capital with fealty to none and easily portable across national boundaries needs the counterweight of organized labor for a free market and a free nation to thrive.

Unfortunately, Mr. Morello and the current Republican leadership are stuck in the morass of an Ayn Randian atheistic philosophy of social Darwinism. Their intellectual dishonesty forms a nice bookend to their moral bankruptcy.

Jamshed Dastur

Newport Beach

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Phone survey is a ploy

A new telephone survey was directed my way the other morning.

It was not a subtle attempt to tie recent publicity on a Costa Mesa councilman to the November election. Whoever wrote the survey rewrote everything from the newspapers for the past three days. Then they asked for opinions on everyone from Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and Supervisor John Moorlach to Costa Mesa's proposed charter and the Sanitary District.

Woe to those who had to read all the lengthy, poorly written questions to responders, and to those who paid for such a bad survey. It was using Costa Mesa's current celebrity publicity to try to inform the election Nov. 6.

It has been a rough battle for our family and friends. I cannot thank enough the people who did the fundraising for my family. Veronica Ashworth, Chadd Benjamin, Jenna Sergant organized the fundraisers.

I also would like to thank Ruby's in Costa Mesa, Chili's in Foothill Ranch and Panera Bread in Costa Mesa. The community came out in full force to support me and my daughters. Random people are putting funds in an account for us.

We have received great support, as we are still healing from this thing that could have taken our family down.

Shelby is 100% cancer-free and 100% tumor-free. She is still recovering, as it takes months to do. We are still not out of the woods, but we are on the right track. Thank you, everyone, for supporting us in prayer, well-wishes and financially.